Anyway, it's the missing Madison section that was absent from the last chapter. I didn't have it written up completely by the time I wanted to post the second chapter, so I cut it out. Now its all ready to go. Enjoy.
Madison
My heart pounded so fast I thought it might explode. I felt light-headed. Not even after I sat between my bed and nightstand did my heart settle. That used to work before, but so had the breathing exercises and they had already failed. Nothing seemed to work anymore.
I had had another nightmare again. In this one, I was at the theater. I was seven and Emma had taken us to see a movie. The whole place was empty, I wouldn’t have gone otherwise, and all the lights were off. The soundtrack played in the background and you could see light projected on the screen, but nothing showed.
Emma got up to go complain to the manager, leaving Cassy and me by ourselves. I stayed put in my seat next to her, gripping her hand as tightly as possible. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Cassy suggested we play a game to pass the time. She was doing it so I wouldn’t feel anxious. It was Red light/Green light. I used to love that game.
When she called out “Green light,” I ran down the ramp. I only made it three rows before she stopped me when she yelled “Red light!” This went on for a while. The frequent ‘greens’ and ‘reds’ distracted me completely from worrying about Emma. I wasn’t scared anymore.
Then one time, Cassy yelled “Green light!” and I ran as hard as I could. I sprinted so quickly that I had to use both my hands to stop me when I had reached the end. I had run right up to the blank white screen. As I turned around to look back at her, the lights flashed on and every seat was now filled. Parents and children sat and stared at me with a look of disgust and horror on their faces. “Look at the freak,” I could hear them thinking, though no one said it aloud. I could hear all of them, what they were thinking. Even the kids.
My eyes blurred as tears quickly filled them. I searched and searched for Cassy, but when I finally found her seat, it was empty. It was the only empty chair in the entire theater.
Then everyone in the room started hissing and booing at me as if I was part of the show. The children laughed and pointed as I struggled to breath. It wasn’t until someone plucked a red, solid brick from the sidewall and hurled it at me that all the other bricks inside the theater quivered and tumbled like dominoes. The whole theater caved in on us. That was when I woke up, panting and sweating.
If Emma saw me like this, that would be reason enough to start drinking in the middle of the afternoon. I didn’t want that. I wish Cassy were here. She would help me through this. She always did before.
I wanted to tell her not to go when she said she was leaving. I wanted to beg her to stay with me, but I couldn’t do that to her. I can’t drag her down with me. Besides, she had said that she wasn’t going to take long. She was just going out to lunch with a friend.
“Madison? Are you all right? I heard the furniture moving in there.” It was Emma. Her voice sounded so close I knew she was already at the door. Don’t let her see you like this, Madison, I thought to myself.
I quickly got up and wiped away my tears on my sleeve. “I-I’m fine,” I said. “I just slipped getting out of bed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” my voice trembled.
“I need to run to the store. You can wait in the car.” Oh no. Not this. I can’t let her see me like this. But if she leaves…if she leaves, I’ll be all alone.
“N-no. I c-can’t.”
“Come on, Madison. It’ll only take a minute. Cassy’s not here so if you don’t come with me you’ll be a—” she stopped just sort of saying it. Don’t say it, Emma. Don’t say it or I’m going to lose it.
“I’ll be okay,” I quickly interrupted. “Cassy called and said she was on her way home already.” I had to lie. I had to say something. There was no other way to get rid of her. I just had to hope that my lie would come true and Cassy would return soon. Wishes never worked for me. I stopped believing in them a long time ago.
“Are you…” insane, I thought I heard her say. Instead, she added, “I can’t leave you unless I know Cassy is with you, you know that. Let me in,” she turned the doorknob. Luckily, I had locked it. I always locked it.
“Don’t come in, I’m changing.” The doorknob stopped moving. “I need to do this Emma. I’m in high school already. I need to fight this.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
No. “Y-yes.”
“Well alright. I have my phone with me. Call me the instant you need to. Do you want me to put you on speaker phone while I’m gone?”
So you can hear my whimper? No. “That’s okay.”
“I’ll be fifteen minutes at the most. The store is just around the corner. Madison? I’m leaving now.”
I couldn’t say anything I was breathing so hard. Even when I clutched my knees to my chest, I still felt like I was falling. My throat felt tight and my toes were all tingly. I had to concentrate on the second hand of my watch just to make sure I was breathing every so often. “I’m not alone,” I said to myself in a whisper. “I’m not alone. Cassy is in her bedroom. Emma is downstairs watching TV. I’m not alone.”
When the door slammed shut, I felt a cold drop of sweat drip down from my forehead to my cheek and neck. The tingling quickly spread to my legs and arms. I gripped my knees closer together.
“I’m not alone. I’m not—” My throat tightened again before I could finish. I felt like someone was strangling me. The ghost. The ghost from when I was little. He was here in this room again.
Get away from me. You’re not real. You’re NOT real.
The lights in the room grew dim. It was him. He was doing this. My neck felt cold again. It wasn’t my sweat this time, it was his fingertips wrapped around my throat. He was going to strangle me, murder me in my own home, in my own room. And no one was there to save me. No one. Not Emma. Not Cassy.
Then everything around me suddenly went darker…
Hope it was worth the read. I doubt it will change much from this. I'm trying to finish off the other two pov before posting. I will definitely publish the chapter within a week, maybe less. Probably less.
Also, please forgive me for any gramatical errors. I tend to neglect those. Don't worry about reviewing here, since this isn't even a complete chapter. But I wouldn't mind any feedback. Please do review once its on fiction press.
Thanks,
L
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